Orwellian: Journalist group protests Alberta war room’s use of term ‘reporters’

Grieving families, local leaders want review of Interlake intersection after teens die in crash

A two-vehicle crash that killed four teenage friends in the Interlake Sunday night prompted outpourings of grief in several communities and calls for safety improvements at the intersection, which was also the site of a death in July.

Recent high school graduates Maya Borsa and Chloe Vermette, both 18, were identified by their families as victims of the collision at Highway 8 and Provincial Road 229, just west of Winnipeg Beach.

“(Chloe) was a very bubbly, loving personality. Always giving, always caring. Her friends meant the world to her,” said her mother, Veronique Vermette, who struggled to comprehend the tragedy when she went to the scene Monday. “We sat in the rain for hours, and it blew my mind that four lives were taken.”

The teens’ parents are waiting for RCMP to provide more information about the cause of the crash. Chloe, who graduated from Windsor Park Collegiate in Winnipeg in July, was driving one of the vehicles, her mother said.

DNA on beer can helps solve killing

Two years after 74-year-old James Monaghan was stabbed in his Sherburn Street home, DNA found on a beer can led police to his killer.

Shara Harper, 29, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and on Tuesday was sentenced to six years in prison.

A neighbour found Monaghan dead in his home on July 29, 2022. He had been stabbed twice in the chest and back.

The investigation into Monaghan’s killing had stalled until June 2024, when DNA found on an empty beer can in Monaghan’s home was confirmed to be a match for Harper.

Carney warns of tough times ahead in national address as retaliatory tariffs begin

OTTAWA - Canada's pivot away from the United States will "come at a cost" but the alternative would be far worse, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.

Carney made the remarks in a video released just hours after his government made good on a promise to implement retaliatory tariffs on the United States. Those tariffs respond to American duties imposed last month by U.S. President Donald Trump, after the two countries could not come to an agreement to settle some outstanding trade irritants.

Carney spent much of the video laying out Canada's response to Trump's protectionist trade policies, including expanding trade with other countries and building more capacity domestically.

But he said it "won't be easy."

Childfree Winnipeg group gives women without kids a place to gather

Katelyn Sawatzky founded Childfree Winnipeg Women in 2021 to bring together women who don’t have kids — be it by choice or circumstance — and do not plan on raising children.

The group is designed to help them share experiences and build meaningful friendships.

The community welcomes cisgender, straight, transgender, bisexual and lesbian women. Parents, including empty nesters and men, are turned away.

“Our group is a safe space where women can hang out with other women without being asked when you’re going to have kids or why you don’t have kids … where you don’t feel like you have to validate or defend your choices in any way, because everyone gets it,” Sawatzky says.

Journalist group decries war room 'reporters'

EDMONTON - Staff in the Alberta government's so-called war room should stop calling themselves reporters, says the president of the Canadian Association of Journalists.

"Don't pretend that you're doing journalism — because you're not," Karyn Pugliese said Tuesday from Winnipeg. "When the government hires its own PR firm, that's fine. But when you pretend that PR firm is journalism, that's positively Orwellian."

Earlier this month, Alberta's United Conservative government opened the Canadian Energy Centre, often referred to by Premier Jason Kenney as a "war room" for reacting to and correcting perceived misinformation on the province's energy industry.

The centre has since published a series of articles on its website. Sources contacted for those stories have told media organizations, including The Canadian Press, that staff identified themselves on the phone as reporters.

Hydro working to restore service to pockets of River Heights

When Sheila Fenby’s basement began filling with water Sunday night, it felt like déjà vu.